100 Years Ago: The Amazing Technology of 1910
Matthew Kruk
Technology
100 Years Ago: The Amazing Technology of 1910
By Heather Whipps, Special to LiveScience
posted: 01 January 2010 09:53 am ET
.The dawn of 2010 promises more amazing developments in the world of
technology. Already, tourists can visit space, for a price, nearly
everything and everyone is going digital, and medical science continues
to test the boundaries of what makes us truly human.
One full century ago, the new technologies that had people talking were
considered just as groundbreaking. Electricity led the charge of
developments that were changing the way people lived every day, with
transportation and chemistry not far behind.
As the clocks of 1909 ticked towards 1910, more exciting inventions were
just around the corner.
1910 brings new ways to clean, travel
The first decade of the 1900s was an exciting time to be alive, with
inventors continuing to make major strides in all disciplines.
The early years of the century saw the general public finally able to
enjoy the fruits of what was achieved in electrical engineering during
the previous century. By 1910, many suburban homes had been wired up
with power and new electric gadgets were being patented with fervor.
Vacuum cleaners and washing machines had just become commercially
available, though were still too expensive for many middle-class
families.
The telephone was another hot new commodity in 1910, with millions of
American homes already connected by manual switchboard. Those who did
not have a phone to call their neighbor still had to rely on the paper
for their news, however; though radio technology was in its infancy,
regular broadcasts were still several years away.
In transportation, those first years of the 20th century began the age
of the airship, marked by a craze for dirigibles such as the Zeppelin
and the Wright Brothers' historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Henry
Ford introduced his landmark Model T in 1908, making automobiles
available and affordable to the masses for the first time.
Chemistry also charged full steam ahead in 1910. Advances in the use of
gases chilled the world out with the release of the first electric
refrigerators and air-conditioning units, while French inventor Georges
Claude harnessed neon in glass tubes and debuted neon lighting in Paris,
changing the face of seedy advertising forever.
Other new inventions, both influential and inane, that were making waves
one century ago included:
.Bakelite plastic
.Escalators
.Teabags
.Cellophane
.Instant coffee
.Disposable razor blades
The best thing before sliced bread
The world was modernizing quickly by 1910, but some everyday things we
take for granted now were then still just a glimmer in their inventors'
eyes.
Men were still relying on buttons and women on painful corsets until
1913, for example, when clothing technology got a boost with the
development of the zipper and modern brassiere. Unfortunate zipper
accidents likely healed better with the invention of the modern
Band-Aid, which came about seven years later.
Steel turned rusty until mid-decade, when the stainless variety ushered
in a new era of efficient gun barrels and, later, shiny appliances.
Finally, though the pop-up toaster first hit the market in 1919, the
public had to wait almost ten years for its practicality to be fully
realized. The "greatest thing" of the modern age, the one invention
against which all others are now compared-sliced bread-was born in
Missouri in 1928.